


Ties and Latte Art

by ayahinas



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 07:26:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2723786
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ayahinas/pseuds/ayahinas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Hinami starts working at Anteiku to help her parents and meets a messy and talented co-worker.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ties and Latte Art

**Author's Note:**

> another ayahina au. the fluff will never end. this one is p/ long too.

Hinami was not dumb, nor was she oblivious. 

She heard her father’s hushed whispers that they are unable to pay the rent, she noticed how her mother looked at expensive cloths longingly, even if she says they are not ‘to her taste’ afterwards. It’s not that hard to tell that her father’s clinic is in a bad situation – it’s almost always empty when she comes to see him in there.  
She comes every day, and stays there from 4pm to 9pm, always sighing as she’s leaving.  
Over the time, her parents stress became almost unbearable for them. Her father almost got sick (how ironic it was, with him being a doctor ) and her mother started going to any job interview she found. Her mother was a housewife all her life, so most of them didn’t seem to look well.  
Therefore, Hinami decided to go search for a job herself. She was sixteen, already legal to work as a minor, and it would help to support her house – she has the determination needed to find a job. All she needed was a job with a good pay.

The girl thought to herself how usually people find jobs – Ah! Right. The section in the newspaper, she remembered. Hinami went to their kitchen, where the all the newspapers were stacked up neatly near their dinner table. 

Flipping the pages, she found the career section quite quickly; she noticed that the corner of the page folded, as if it was saved for the future. Her heart ached thinking about her mother thinking she has to do so. 

Reading quickly on every job written on the page, one job stuck out to her as perfect. 

‘A café named Anteiku is looking for a part time waiter/waitress from the ages of 16-25. The shop is located in Tokyo in the twentieth ward.’ 

\- 

She came the day later to the small shop, not bothering to mention it to her parents – her mother and father were great people, but they shielded her too much, and will deny any proof she ever had for them having financial problems only so she could live ‘happier’, as they would probably say.

Hinami walked into the shop with ease, the sort of antique style of the shop making her more and more relaxed. She didn’t even notice that she was tense. Looking around, the brunette walked to the counter shyly. Behind it was standing a gorgeous woman with dark, bluish hair. 

“Hello miss, how can I help you?” The woman asked, and Hinami got a little flustered, yet regained composure after a little while. 

“I came here to apply to the job, if it’s alright…” Hinami did notice that her tone of voice was slightly shaky. Were everyone like that in their first job application? Or it was just her screwing up?

“Oh. Alright. I’ll call the manager, and he would already speak to you about everything about it.” She gave a kind smile, and disappeared into a backdoor that was behind the counter. She could hear the woman’s voice yelling ‘Yoshimura san!’ from the inside. Not long afterwards, an old man appeared behind the counter, his face is welcoming and warm.

“Hello, I’m Yoshimura Kuzen, the manager of this Café. You are the girl who wanted to apply to the job?” the man asked politely and Hinami nodded. “I see. Well, for starters, would you mind telling me your name?” 

“I’m Fueguchi Hinami.” She replied quietly as she bowed a little.

“That’s a lovely name.” He paused as he smiled. “Let’s start the interview.” 

\- 

In the end of the day, Hinami got the job. Yoshimura san told her she will get her uniform as soon as possible. Excited, rang her parents as quickly as she could. Hearing her mother’s relieved sigh as she told her she would be able to help support their home was Hinami’s greatest pleasure and joy. 

She still stayed in the shop though, since Yoshimura told her to follow Touka’s (the girl with the bluish hair she met at the counter) instructions and learn about making coffee and such, as well as getting to know the other workers. 

Touka introduced her to Enji and Irimi, which she thought were the complete contrast of each other, yet both so nice in different ways. They both gave the shop all their devotion, being the only two not-part timers in the café except Yoshimura. Touka mentioned there was another worker, which was also her brother, but his shift didn’t start yet. She wondered how he was. 

“Fueguchi-chan, let’s start learning the coffee blends if we have time now..” Touka said rather awkwardly and Hinami nodded quickly.

-

It was now six and a half; 4 hours since she came to take the interview. There weren’t a lot of customers, and if there was any, Irimi and Enji took care of it. Hinami and Touka mostly fell into a long conversation about their lives. 

“Aneki!” She heard a yell from the inner part of the shop. Touka immediately turned around. 

“That’s my brother.. I’ll return in a second.” She ran to the door behind the counter, leaving Hinami to sit on her chair with no one to talk to. She didn’t really mind though. Hinami just waited to see her new co-worker. 

Then, he and Touka came out of the backdoor together. He was just as gorgeous – or rather, should she say, handsome? – as Touka. Pretty much the only difference between them is their gender and the fact his hair was slightly messier. “… Learn to tie for yourself, you pain.” She heard Touka saying, giving him a frown.

“What does it matter? Does tying one more tie is really that much of a pain for you?” He said rather rudely back. Hinami heard it’s like that between brothers and sisters, but growing up as an only child prevented her from actually knowing for sure.  
“Ugh, just shut up. Listen, we have a new worker now, so come and tell her hi.” Touka said quickly and dragged him to the table Hinami was sitting at. “Hinami, this is my brother and also co worker, Ayato. Ayato, this is the new waitress Hinami.” Hinami beamed at him, expecting him to be as nice as Touka, but all he gave back was a grouchy expression. 

“Hi.” He said and left to be behind the counter. She could see him sighing. It kind of made the situation awkward, since Touka just kind of stood there. And Hinami didn’t really know what to say.

“I’m sorry about his behavior..” Touka started, but Hinami shook her head and let it go quickly. It was the first time she met him – he was not obliged to be nice to her. 

“I’ll be leaving now, I think. And I’ll practice on making all the coffee blends you taught me today, Kirishima.. uh, senpai!” She smiled and was about to turn to take her leave. Touka nodded just before she did that and waved goodbye.

-

Three days passed and Yoshimura called to tell her that her uniform came in and she will start from today ( of course, he added ‘if possible’, since from what she got the manager’s thoughtfulness knew no ends ). Hinami, excited, started to prepare for work. She put her short hair in a cute little ponytail, dressed up with cloths she knew she can change from quickly and went on her way.   
After about half an hour she was already there. She entered the shop happily, seeing Yoshimura was already waiting for her with the uniform behind the counter. She rushed over there. “Go change quickly in the backroom. You are starting your shift in a few minutes.” Yoshimura said pleasantly and Hinami nodded and went to change.

She came out with her Anteiku uniform about 3 minutes later. The shop was not filled with people, and those who were in it already got their coffee, so she could only wait to start to do actual work. She heard footsteps from behind her. 

Touka and her brother came down from the upstairs of the building. Hinami remembered Touka telling her about how she lives just above the shop. Ayato was dressed for work, while Touka wasn’t, though. 

“Ah, Fueguchi-chan. You got your uniform. It looks good on you.” The dark haired girl complimented politely.   
“Yeah! Ah, Kirishima Senpai, may I ask, why aren’t you in yours?” The brunette asked, confused. 

“She’s going on a date with her stupid boyfriend.” Ayato grumbled silently, and Touka gave him a strong kick to his shin. 

“Shut up!” Touka groaned at his words, yet she was blushing pretty brightly. “Don’t listen to him. I am going to work on a project with someone my teacher assigned me to.” She held her forearm shyly, but brushed it off as fast as possible. Hinami nodded quickly, but had to restrain herself from letting out giggles. Touka was still embarrassed, but continued talking. “Anyway, you’ll be working with this stupid boy here.” She said as she pointed to Ayato. “Tell me if he annoys you, I will kick his ass.”

Hinami was slightly embarrassed, since a war of glares suddenly started between the siblings, but gave out as small ‘okay’ to brush it off as soon as possible. “Have fun Kirishima Senpai…” 

Touka left with hurried steps afterwards, right after looking at the small clock on her wrist. Hinami’s eyes shifted to Ayato. His hair wasn’t very neatly done – like he brushed it slightly and then gave up. He had his Anteiku uniform on, and with his sleeves rolled up, it seemed like he was usually a part of the staff that was behind the counter and made the coffee itself. His tie was the same as a few days before – not properly tied.  
“…Kirishima-kun, you should fix your tie before more costumers will come...” She noted to him awkwardly. She just started working here, and it might shouldn’t come from her considering it, but it was rather annoying to the eye.

“What, no Kirishima Senpai to me?” He completely ignored the complaint. Hinami was taken slightly aback. She didn’t expect a reaction like this. 

“Ehm, I only call older people than me Senpai. Or in higher position than me…” her sentence trailed off with his expression changing to a frown. The brunette didn’t think she said anything wrong, so she just huffed to herself and looked away from him. 

“Whatever, brat. It’s not like I care what you think.” He replied back, his voice sounding annoyed as ever. “And well, if you care so much about my tie, tie it yourself.” He threw it on her without any first notice and bended his head towards her.

Hinami flushed – she didn’t expect to end up in this situation. She didn’t know how to answer to him either, so all her response ended up with her grumbling as she fixed his tie, trying to look to anywhere but his face. She was done with it after a minute.   
Ayato quickly looked down to see how the female fixed his tie. He seemed he was alright with it. “Well, heh. You tie it better than aneki.” He mentioned. Hinami was going to reply, but customers entered at the same moment and Ayato left to be behind the counter. “Let’s see if you are a better waitress than her as well.” He grinned. 

Still flustered, she just turned away and went to take her first orders.  
-

Her first day went by smoothly, despite the fact she felt very nervous near Ayato. Well, all she really had to do was to pass him the orders she wrote down, so luckily for her, she didn’t had to pass the entire shift awkwardly near him. 

Hinami sighed at the memory. It was already her seventh day of work and she already realized – Ayato is always on her shifts. There is no avoiding him just because she felt embarrassed to fix his tie one time. She decided to try to approach him today and maybe try to have a nice friendship with him.  
It was 2pm, And Ayato was behind the counter as always. He seemed to be swirling the foam in a coffee he made. 

She got closer to him, and Ayato turned his head to her, his expression telling her to not waste time and talk. “Eh… Hey.” The brunette said awkwardly. It was obvious he was not very impressed. “Uh, what are you doing?” She asked quickly to make him forget her stiff question.  
“Latte art.” He replied, answering in short. Hinami looked over the coffee. The foam whiteness was shaped in a bunny form, and was amazingly detailed. Hinami gasped at the beverage, astonished that he managed to make the foam look so… professional.   
“Kirishima-kun, that’s so gorgeous! Where did you learn how to do it?” She asked excitedly. Maybe she can learn how to do it herself. It looked fun making those.

“Aneki taught me how to do it. It’s not that hard. I just do it when I’m bored here. Obviously, I had a lot of practice.” Ayato chuckled to himself. He didn’t really think this particular art was anything special – he had a few latte arts he put much more effort in. It boasted his ego to hear her getting excited on a rather lousy job. 

“Ahh, your sister taught you? She really is amazing… But honestly, I really like this foam bunny. It’s very cute.” She stared at the small foam drawing. Maybe it was because she always had a rather artistic nature, but she loved every form of art, and finding one in her new workplace made her happier than anything.

Ayato stared at her smiling face thoroughly. He grinned, and slipped the coffee cup to her. “Here, take it if you like it. You can drink it… I’ll make a better latte art next time.” His demeanor changed completely from what she was used to, and his cute boyish smile made Hinami flush. 

“Ayato kun, come over here for a second!” Enji interrupted their chat, and Ayato only gave one more glance at Hinami, who stared at the coffee he gave her, before leaving slowly, a little annoyed he had to.

-

Three weeks since she started working at Anteiku and she became adjusted to the small café. Her job isn’t very hard and she grew to like everyone from the staff. Ayato and she became closer and he showed her his latte art every once in a while, and it slowly became her favorite pastime.   
It was early in the morning, and Hinami jumped around the shop until it was prepared to have customers in it. From there, she went near Ayato, who was making his usual ‘bored latte art’. 

Today was one of those days Ayato felt like putting more effort in what he does, and made an extremely detailed butterfly from the foam. It was obviously carefully done, even with Ayato’s lack of delicacy – nonetheless, it was stunning.  
“Ayato-kun, it’s gorgeous as usual.” She said and sighed. She tried to make some coffee art of her own – it did not work very well. “You have to teach me someday. You can’t keep all that talent to yourself.” She laughed. 

“I don’t mind teaching you, heh. Pffft, you will never be better than me, though.” The boy smirked at her. Hinami knew he was only trying to act playful. “And of course, nothing comes free.” He continued after a bit. 

“Ah? And what do you want, exactly, Ayato-kun?” Hinami answered with a hand on her hip and a pout on her face. Ayato laughed. 

“What do you think of becoming of my own personal tie-fixer, eh?” He gave a glace to his messy tie know and his smirk from before only got wider. The brunette’s face turned red. She remembered about what happened at her first day. “You care about it being tidy anyway, don’t you?” She could hear he held back a laugh with the sentence.

“Agh. Fine! Bend your head then!” Hinami ordered him. 

“Pft, Hinami, I was joki-“ 

“Do what I said!” She urged him. Ayato bended his head.

Hinami quickly undid the knot, and tied the cloth perfectly around his neck. Ayato almost came to lift his head, but Hinami grabbed the tie before, making him stay in place and letting her kiss him on the nose. 

Ayato, who was slightly shocked covered his face immediately from embarrassment. 

“Just so you know, next time, as your personal tie-fixer, I’ll kiss you on the lips, okay?”


End file.
